and I got myself a beer

It's 8:03pm, and I'm suffering at the end of Roadhouse Blues. The Doors, man... shit. I very very reluctantly admit that I like The Doors... but only because the sum is much much greater than their really really shitty parts. The band is fucking a joke. How can anyone take a band without a bass seriously? Keyboards rule, but they ain't a lead instrument when you're trying to rock. Not to mention Ray Manzarek is one of the most arrogant bastards who's ever walked the earth. Talk about self-important. This guy, along with the other two musicians, actually carried on The Doors name for two records immediately after Jim Morrison died. Not to mention the shit he and Robby Krieger tried to pull with The Doors of the 21st Century with Ian Astbury of The Cult (and don't even get me started on how the once-mighty Cult has let me down). Astbury's out there fronting D21C, actually thinking he's Morrison reincarnated. Ri-goddamn-diculous. John Densmore is the only guy to seem cool these days, but he's not without sin either. There was a good article in the Tribune awhile back (unfortunately it's beyond the free access limit in their archives), all about how he's the only one stopping the rest of the band from selling out their entire catalog to commercials, a la The Who. Manzarek and Krieger are pissed because he still has some integrity... as much integrity you can have after you've played with The Doors.

But I already digress. Speaking of selling out... it's 8:04pm and it's finally time to Get the Led Out. When do we welcome Cadillac as the new sponsor of this segment?

BYRD: "Here we are. Let's get the party started! Percy, Bonzo (he of lead foot and butterfly hands), Robert, Jimmy, John Paul and John. It's time to Get the Led Out. Let's get one from you. Hi, The Loop."

JOSH: "The Girl I Love Got Long Black Wavy Hair."

BYRD: "And who's this?"

JOSH: "Josh."

BYRD: "Josh... you got it! All requests, all night long. This is The Loop on Demand."

If I didn't know any better, I'd think there were six dudes in Zeppelin after that intro. But I'll let this one slide. Byrd is excited to rock. And Josh, you almost got the name of the song right. It's The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair. That's cool, though. It's better to Get the Led Out a little late and with a couple minor errors, than to not Get the Led Out at all.

Now this song is a fucking rocker. It's from the BBC Sessions double CD, and obviously morphed into Moby Dick on Led Zeppelin II. Robert has it bad for a girl with long black wavy hair. That's it, baby. She shakes just like a willow tree. That's all you need. To the point... chicks, guitars, and a thumping beat. Not that Robert didn't try some "deep" lyrics on occasion (too much weed and Tolkein), but this shit is as good as it gets.

Back to Morrison... a hack poet of the highest order. That guy wrote some of the worst lyrics in the history of rock. It's all straight out of a drugged-out 15 year old sadsack's spiral notebook. I guess good looks will get you places after all. I challenge anyone to find a good, meaningful line out of any Doors song. "You know they are a liar"? Fuck you, Lizard King.

Can someone explain to me the fadeout on Wavy Hair? That was recorded live for the BBC. Did some engineer fade them out as they were playing, or did that happen when they finally put the track on disc? It boggles my mind. But here we go now... fading into Whole Lotta Love. Another fucking rocker, about chicks and how much Robert wants to bang them! I'd love to get my hands on the short version of that song, with the orgasmic middle part excised out of it. It's like the first time I heard the single version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. My dad would crank Side A (I think I made the mistake of trying to listen to Side B just once) of that record on his piece-of-furniture radio/turntable until the scratches and pops were intolerable. We actually split the cost of a CD to replace it, and it also included the 2:something minute version. They chopped a good 15 minutes off that song! It sounds hilarious.

And speaking of Whole Lotta Love, I gotta give props to the person who mashed it with Snoop Dogg's Drop It Like It's Hot. Look it up NOW. I found it as Drop It Like It's A Whole Lotta Love by Snoop Zeppelin. For awhile I was downloading mashups like crazy, but the whole genre took off almost above-ground... so there's alot of crap out there now. This one isn't one of the earliest, but it still kicks ass. Too bad the newer-skool mashers are gunning for radio play now (does Q101 still do their Face Down Mash Up every night?), because the only bad part about this one is they use the radio edit of Snoop's lyrics.

Anyway, Byrd hit a bumper and segues into Down by the Seaside. A nice change-up there, Byrd. It's nice to come down and catch our breath after a twofer of pure rock.

BYRD: "Chicago's Zeppelin Station, 97.9 The Loop... as we Got the Led Out successfully again tonight. Uh, three song set. Of course there Down by the Seaside, kinda a nice uh mellow one for a Monday evening. Also uh played uh right off the top The Girl With Uh Long Wavy Hair, The Girl I Love. And uh Whole Lotta Love in there too, right off the top. Byrd here. We'll do it again tomorrow night... Get the Led Out. 312-591-rock, 591-ROLL."

I think Byrd was a little preoccupied tonight. Maybe he was thinking of long hair and cowboy boots. It's also funny that when Byrd is live from 7pm to midnight, the "ON AIR NOW" box in the top right corner of WLUP.com still lists him for "MORNINGS".

Sue from Chicago requests Metallica. If she asked for a specific song, it didn't make it to air. So what do we get? Awesome asskicking Metallica? Master of Puppets? Fade to Black? No. We get shitty Metallica... Nothing Else Matters. C'mon now! I'm going to download Tall Cool One and crack open a Coca-Cola.